Practice Cover, which specialises in cover for healthcare professionals, has paid out an average of £23,080 for sickness and accident claims.
The company provides locum insurance primarily for GPs and dentists, and has paid out for a range of claims from bunions and slipped discs to motorbike crashes and jury service.
Lynda Cox, who set up Practice Cover in 2009 in the niche area of locum and overheads insurance for GPs, dentists, vets, opticians and allied healthcare professionals, sees claims as justification that the insurance is a modern-day necessity for healthcare practices.
“Many doctors feel they would soldier on in the face of illness, but that’s often simply impossible,” said Lynda. “We have paid out on claims for what are on face value minor ailments such as a slipped disc or broken bone in the hand, through to those with cancer or brain tumours that have led to the death of the insured.
“In five years of trading we have only rejected one claim, where the insured failed to disclose an existing illness, and this is a reassuring statistic for our clients. At the end of the day, they are running a business and need the peace of mind from a payment if they or a key member of staff have an unavoidable absence.”
Locums can cost a GP practice up to £350 a session* and securing cover for a long-term illness can be a major overhead for the practice.
“One of our GP clients had a motorbike accident that left him unable to return to work for 2 months and even then he could only return part time. His claim provided a cash sum of over £18,000 which the practice can spend on anything they like, not just on locums. You don’t have to bring in a locum to make a claim.”
Practice Cover is the only specialist provider of locum insurance and overheads insurance in the UK, which is designed to protect either a practice or individuals. The company offers annually renewable or permanent cover for illness or injury, and can expand cover to include jury service or suspension, occupationally acquired HIV, delayed return from holiday, return from maternity/paternity or adoption leave, and many other events.
*GPonline/Medeconomics locum rates 2011/12
The opinions presented in this blog are solely those of the author on behalf of Practice Cover Limited and they do not constitute individual advice.
